Arcam DV88 problems??? Please help!!

I'm on my second DV88, took the first one back because of DTS sound dropouts.

My second machine has a problem playing R1 O'brother where art thou. I get the following problems....

1.27:14 - pauses for about 0.5 sec
1.27:23 - pauses for about 4 secs, player keeps attempting to play sound, picture has slight blocking, when play resumes sound is out of sync
1.28:49 - stops completely unable to play rest of chapter, cannot even forward search. Although can rewind around this point.

This happens in both DTS and DD.

I got in touch with Arcam, even though I wasnt sure of it was a disc or player problem, and they requested I send the DVD to them.

They tested to disc and said that they had none of the problems I describe, they had a problem around chapter 3. They suggested it was an authoring problem and said that I could get round it 'by pressing next chapter just after the Touchstone logo and selecting play from menu'.

I tried this BUT THE PROBLEM IS STILL THERE.

After emailing them again, offering to drop my player off at my local dealer so they could pick it up to test, I got the following answer;

<We have verified that the disc does have a problem, whether it is related to bad authoring or copy we do not know, you need to be aware that there are a number of discs that are causing concern for a number of DVD manufacturers and not just Arcam, which incidentally costs us a lot of money and time investigating the current trend of DVD Disc problems. It may be a possibility that a brand new copy of this disc will play without a problem, I believe disc manufacturers do release "fixed versions" at certain times with the same catalogue number etc.>

Sounds to me like they are washing their hands of this problem!!


Thing is where do I stand and what do I do? I guess I could take the player back but I fear I'll just be going round in circles...I want my player to play this R1 disc!!!! It seems a bit hit and miss as to whether a replacement player would play it....

Is this disc known to be problematic?

Could anyone test the disc for me??

From what Arcam say the disc is OK but if somebody could verify for me??

Please let me know your thoughts on this issue!!

[Adam Barratt]

I can't comment of your problems with O Brother Where Art Thou (it plays fine on my Sony 725), but I had so many problems with my DV88 I simply returned it.

No matter how good the picture is, if it won't actually play discs without pauses, dropouts or other problems it isn't acceptable. I was told numerous times that the discs I was playing were somehow defective, although none of them seemed to be a problem for any other DVD player on the market. This suggests that either these discs aren't as defective as Arcam claim or that the DV88 is *much* too sensitive to minor problems that don't phase any other players.

I was told the DTS dropouts and navigation glitches I experienced would be fixed in future firmware revisions, but the problems I experienced were identified in players using the initial firmware version. Five revisions (six?) later and they are still there; this didn't exactly inspire faith that they would be fixed in the future.

As an aside, Arcam complaining about the cost of rectifying playback problems is not very professional. If they can't handle these sorts of problems (which, as far as I'm aware every other company also has to deal with, large and small, and with players costing *much* less than Arcam's) then perhaps they should try another field.

I've always had great faith in Arcam's products, but the whole debacle surrounding my experience with a DV88 dealt that faith a body blow that won't soon be forgotten.

Adam

Thanks for your comments.

Is there any way to determine if it's a faulty disc?

Would a fellow DV88 owner be kind enough to try my disc out for me to see if a) they have the same problems and b) whether Arcam's solution works? I would of course pay all postage costs...

Also, it's been suggested that a later version of this film may be 'OK'.

If anyone have a R1 copy of O'brother or R1 Meet the parents (also problematic), could you tell me the catalogue number and when you bought it?

Thanks in advance